Month: September 2015

The ones who came before us warned us of the effects of mom bum. This condition takes a perfectly round, lifted asset and literally sucks the life out of it. The fight is real! The culprit…your baby.

Now before you burn your skinny jeans and pull out the mom jeans (which are actually in style now) to fit your new pancake-style butt, let’s look at the causes of mom butt and the solutions.

First of all, thank goodness for butts and the ability to feed our babies with these amazing bodies! The reality is that the body was not made to be just a beautiful piece of aesthetics that walks around. I know, shocking, right!? We actually are created with such amazing abilities that we can grow a human, feed him or her, and get our bodies back! Yes, you heard me right. We can get our bodies back, but it will take work and dedication.

Plan for success:

One of the most important ingredients for trying to add some roundness back into those pants is food! We are busy, we are overtired, and we reach for whatever is easy. That is the life of a mom in a nutshell. I’m 100% guilty of this, so I’m preaching to the choir here. Since having baby #3, I literally have to leave myself reminders in my phone to eat and drink. (I’m not joking.) The reality is that although we still need quick and easy, quality is what is most important. I cannot stress enough the importance of meal prepping. It will keep you on track for losing that extra baby weight and give you the energy you need for those busy days. Simple things like energy balls, granola bars, veggies, and hummus are great options to have constantly on hand and easy to grab when you’re running out the door.

We love fat:

When we are tired or depleted in nutrition, our bodies start to crave sugars and carbs to keep our brains going and our bodies storing fat. It’s our body’s way of surviving and coming out of this parent thing alive. But one of the key things here is “It causes us to store fat.” We want to use our fat as energy, not store it in places it doesn’t belong (like your love handles). So how do we do this? By providing the body with healthy and delicious fats. I get asked often if working out affects my milk. No, it does not because I eat tons of fat. This is how I lose my baby weight and keep my milk supply up while sweating it out daily. Healthy fats like avocados, coconut oil, and nut butters fuel our body with vitamins and the nutrition the body needs for energy, proper brain function, and healthy hormones. And they are easy and quick to eat! Spread some almond butter on rice cakes, add coconut oil to your smoothie, or throw an avocado in your diaper bag, and snack your way through the day.

Lift your way to success:

Stop with all the cardio! Okay, yes you need to sweat and get the heart rate up to lose that baby weight, but if you keep the body moving at a steady pace while lifting those weights, you are going to keep that heart rate up and those calories burning. Weight lifting also keeps the calories burning after that workout is over because of your muscle growth! Muscle eats up calories and fat like crazy while adding beautiful shapes and curves to that body.

Retire your gym membership:

Throw out your excuses that you don’t have the time or money for all these expensive gym memberships. Does your house have walls and a floor? If the answer is yes, then you have the perfect place to get your sweat on. Squats and lunges are two of the most effective ways to shape and lift your bum. Pair them up with some little bursts of cardio, and you have an effective workout that will have you shedding that baby weight and fighting that mom bum!

This past week my little family and I set out on our first vacation as a family of 5. We decided to keep things local and spend time in the beautiful city of Vancouver. I had a couple of events I needed to attend in the city, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to piggyback some much-needed family time. My first night in the city was spent at the Hudson’s Bay #HBactive event. After 4 hours in the car, countless pee breaks and 1 major poo explosion (from our 2 year, old not me), sweating it out while sipping fresh cold pressed juices and snacking on delicious appetizers sounded like an amazing idea! Hitting up one of Spin Societies classes has been on my personal fitness “to-do” list for some time now and let me assure you, they did not disappoint! The night was filled with energy, great music, shopping and connecting with some amazing people. Here is a peek into what ended up being a very fun and delicious evening…

I hope you’re all having a fantastic start to your weekend. Since I’m out of town and enjoying some much needed time with my little family, I asked my friend Jessica, from Styled Nutrition to take over this weeks food friday post. It’s trendy, nutritious and delicious. Enjoy~~*

xoxo

Rachel

Oh fancy toast, you so trendy right now! It seems to be popping up in restaurants and cafés everywhere. But really, who doesn’t love avocado toast? After all, I do call avocados “nature’s butter”, so they are kind of perfect on toast. And they are healthy butter at that, full of heart smart monounsaturated fat, the same kind that olive oil is famous for. Remember when fat was “bad” for you? I used to be scared of fat and you wouldn’t catch me with much more than mustard as a condiment on my sandwiches. Life was much less flavourful back then! I have to say, just plain avocado on toast is pretty darn good, BUT sometimes it’s nice to switch it up, so I thought I would create sweet and savory versions of avo toast and they both turned out delicious! The sweet version takes a little more work as it involves roasting the strawberries (worth it!), but if you are in a hurry, fresh strawberries would still be delicious on this toast. The savory version is super quick and easy!

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 F. Coat sliced strawberries with grapeseed oil and balsamic vinegar and then spread them on a baking sheet and bake for about 30 minutes. Toast bread and spread 1/4 avocado on each slice. Top with roasted strawberries, fresh basil, and freshly ground black pepper. If using, drizzle honey on top. I got lavender honey from my local farmers’ market, but I’m sure you could infuse regular honey with dried culinary lavender to make your own or use any honey of your choice!

If you have extra roasted strawberries, enjoy them on oatmeal, yogurt, etc.!

Adding a full body movement to your abdominal exercises is a great way to burn more calories and target various muscles. This abdominal exercise works the whole area including and surrounding your abs, while demanding strength from your arms, legs and back.

Main Muscles Used:

Obliques

Rectus abdominals

Hip flexors

Supporting Muscles:

This week I asked Brandy from my “Inspired by the everyday woman” to share with us a little of what her current nutrition looks like leading up to race day. Often times when people start training for races they cut calories and nutrition the body needs to stay fuelled and progress efficiently. Ever what eating for full marathon training might look like? Check out Brandy’s current nutrition below.

Tell us a little about your current eating habits:

This week is probably the best week to be writing about my nutrition. I am tapering right now because my race is only two and a half weeks away. Tapering is one of the hardest things for a runner to do. It reduces your mileage and allows for your body to recover, while eating a surplus amount of carbs. How many carbs am I talking about? Roughly 300-400g/day closer to race day. Thank god I love spaghetti. When you’re two weeks away from race day there isn’t anything you can do to improve your fitness. The miles are either in the bank or they aren’t and all you can do now is sabotage your chances by doing too much and succumbing to injury or fatigue.

What I’m focusing on now is treating my body well with optimal nutrition and hydration to help me perform well on race day, and recover during my taper.

What does a typical day of eating look like for you?

Because I am a broke student, I unfortunately can’t afford many of the foods I would love to eat while I’m training, but with my budget I do what I can and what works best for me.

For lunch, it varies every day. Some days it’s quinoa with black beans and veggies, or sweet potato with eggs, cut veggies with hummus, or if I’m running late I’ll grab a couple handfuls of cereal. Don’t judge me, cereal is eaten frequently in my diet. Usually out of a giant mixing bowl whilst watching How I Met Your Mother.

Again, my body can’t go more than two hours without eating so I’ll have some air popped popcorn with coconut oil and sea salt, or a smoothie, granola bar, pretzels, basically anything that will keep me satisfied until dinner.

I hate to say it, but my dinner is almost always stirfry. But… It’s variations of stirfry! BBQ chicken and roasted veggies with brown rice is my definite go-to, along with quinoa pasta and ground turkey before long runs.

For dessert? I eat it everyday. The last couple days have been handfuls of carob chips. Most days it’s a few squares of dark chocolate with natural peanut butter. Dessert is a must.

Running this type of distance takes a lot out of the body. What types supplements do you typically add to help make up for all the calories and sugar being burned?

While I’m running I stick to GU energy gels. Chocolate peanut butter is my favourite because it provides the most amount of sodium for the lowest serving size. Here’s the deal:

The electrolytes sodium and potassium play a critical role in regulating your body’s water balance during exercise: the levels of these electrolytes allow your muscle cells (and every other cell in your body, for that matter) to retain the right amount of water. But when we exercise, we lose electrolytes via sweating.

The benefits of consuming electrolytes, especially sodium during a marathon ( and all of my long training runs) include: maintenance of cardiovascular function, enhanced carbohydrate oxidation, blunted decline in plasma sodium concentration and improved performance. The consumption of approximately 1g of carbohydrate per kilogram of bodyweight per hour appears sufficient to improve performance in prolonged exercise. Research also indicates that approximately 450mg of sodium per hour is the minimum amount required to maintain plasma volume and slow the decline in plasma sodium concentration that can accompany prolonged exercise in some runners. I consume one GU per 45 minutes ( or 11 km of running ).

Now, this was just a brief overview of my “typical day”. As a marathoner, it’s crucial that I consume enough carbohydrates to give my body the energy it needs to fuel my runs during the week. The amount of carbohydrate a runner needs to handle his or her training is tied to the amount of training he or she does. I would go on and talk about the breakdown of how much protein, carbs and fats that you need… but I’m truthfully not educated enough in that department to go into detail.

If you could leave us with one piece of advice what would it be?

The most important thing I’ve learned during my training how to listen to my body. I know when I am carb depleted, or when I crave red meat I’m usually low on iron. I’m pretty in tune with what my body needs. I eat foods in order to fuel my body. I choose fresh, wholesome foods to make me a better runner. Of course I’m a sucker for Burger55, frozen yogurt, and pancakes. If I really want it, I’ll have it. My nutrition is based solely on what I need for fuel, performance and ultimately my end goal of qualifying for Boston.

Thank you so much for sharing with us Brandy! You truly are an inspiration and I can’t wait to see you take on Boston.

Gluten free, Paleo, Sugar free, grain free, dairy free.

All of these ingredients can be purchased at a grocery store like Nature’s Fare. I used all organic ingredients.

This apple cake is so moist and delicious you will not be able to stop at just one piece. I had 3 pieces when I made this, but I totally didn’t feel guilty because of the awesome ingredients I made it with. I doubt anyone is gong to be able to guess its made of mostly white navy beans. So go ahead and eat a piece of cake for breakfast, for snack, or late night munchies. I dare you!

Ingredients:

1 large can of white navy beans (19 ounces)

heaping 1/2 cup xylitol or your choice of dry granulated sweetener

4 eggs

1tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 medium apple grated

1-2 drops lemon essential oil (or 1 tsp lemon rind)

Directions:

Set oven to 350

Puree the beans in a food processor or blender until smooth. Spoon into a bowl and add all the other ingredients. Mix well. It will be fairly runny like a pancake batter. Pour into small baking pan and bake for about 40o min, or until it’s golden brown on top, or a knife comes out clean.

It’s best if you let this cake cool for at least 30 min before you devour it. Self control I know!

Coming back to the world of health and fitness can be an overwhelming task for any mom. We have a never-ending to-do list, a new baby to cuddle, your other children demanding your attention, and a world driven by social media that expects you to have it all together the moment you bring that new babe into the world!

First of all, take a deep breath and let go of whatever massive expectations you had for yourself post-baby. Putting together obtainable and realistic goals is one of the most important things you can do for yourself as a new mom. I think I finally started to really believe this and practice it with baby #3. Yes, it took me two pregnancies and post-partum recoveries to realize that maybe jumping back into life, fitness, and a full social life was not the best thing for me or my family immediately after bringing a new little one into this world. So how do you find balance as your family grows? Read more in this months “Good Life Magazine.”

My passion and dedication to my work comes from a very personal place. I am determined to see woman freed from the lies and destructive lifestyles that are plaguing them. My goal is for women around the world to reach beyond what they thought they were capable of, live a healthy lifestyle and discover true happiness in their bodies.